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Friday, July 8, 2011

Lemonade - Easy Squeasy

Disclaimer -- this is an easy drink to mix up only if you actually own a juicer.

I don't. Not an electric juicer. Not even a manual 99 cent-store one either.

TheDaughter has been craving lemonade lately. The fact that I don't actually own a juicer didn't stop this mother. I learned a little trick from watching all those cooking shows, where in place of a juicer you stab a lemon half several times into the cut end with a table knife, then continuing with said table knife, ream while squeezing said lemon half for a couple minutes until all the juice is extracted or you don't care anymore.

Then repeat with remaining lemons until you get about a cup of very tart liquid. Don't forget to pick out the seeds.

Don't cheat and use RealLemon or one of those other pretend juices from the Try-n-Save. They. Are. Awful. I heard that there exists a great bottled lemon juice. It's either carried at Whole Food or Trader Joe. If any Dear Reader knows about it, please comment below. The world with thank you. And so will I.

Don't skip the sugar syrup step. Granulated sugar and cold water do not get along very well and you will spend more time stirring than I took separating the lemon juice from the lemons.

You can try to make this a bit healthier by using honey, but theDaughter doesn't care for the pronounced flavor of the honey. And after all the time I had to spend with the lemons, I want the resulting drink to, you know, actually be drinkened.

You can also add a bit of mint. Just don't offer me any, thanks. Mint and I do not get along very well either.

Combine the sugar and 1 cup of water together in a 1 or 2 quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar is completely disssolved, then remove from heat and set aside.

If you don't like pulp in your lemon juice, strain juice through a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl. Press the pulp with the back of a spoon to extract any juice it is retaining. Discard pulp.

Pour juice into a 2 quart pitcher. Add sugar syrup and 2 of the remaining cups of cold water. Mix, then pour a small amount into an ice-filled glass and taste. If needed, add remaining cup (or more) of cold water to pitcher.

1 comment:

Decades ago someone gave me a Tupperware juicer thing that includes a container with measurements on the side and a lid with a pour spout to save any juice that's leftover. I cherish that thing because it works so well and I hate juicing citrus any other way.

I've never just thought of keeping a jar of simple syrup in the fridge for uses like lemon (and other) ades though. Fantastic idea!

About Me

Librarian by day, blogger by night, and author of The Everything Kosher Slowcooker Cookbook, available at Amazon,Barnes & Noble and at select Temple gift shops. Or check it out at your local library ... of course.